Leaving no Trace...Needs to be done

John T. Baxter educates the students on the importance of a healthy environment.

April 18, 2012, a day Frostburg State brings environmental awareness to the attention of the students.    The environment deserves attention and care considering every human being lives in it his or her whole life.  To help preserve the well-being of the earth John T. Baxter and Natalia Buta gave a lecture on methods to help save the Earth when partaking in outdoor recreational activities so people in the future can have a healthy place to live.  The presentation was given in the Lane center at Frostburg’s Lane center.  The audience was not a very big one, but it only takes one person to make a difference in the world.  Mr. Baxter started the lecture by describing the principles necessary to keep outdoor activities fun and “green.” An example of the “leave no trace” concept is when going camping, if near a river, lake, or stream, try to set up camp at least two hundred feet away.  With this precautionary measure, outdoorsman and women can prevent pollution and disruption of the water life ecosystem by keeping trash and anything else unnatural out of water.  Mr. Baxter continued with explaining how to leave “no trace” with methods such as using camp stoves instead of camp fires, or how people should not peel bark to gather wood, basically Mr. Baxter was saying let nature be.    After discussing ways to minimize, damage to Earth Mr. Baxter read scenarios to the students that could happen when camping.  One scenario was what does an individual do when seeing someone set up a tent right beside a river opposed to the suggested two hundred feet, should you tell him or her to move?  There is no right or wrong answer; it is an ethical choice because none of the methods is laws, just merely suggestions.  The fact that there is no laws means there is no way to stop people from continuing to destroy the Earth when they are using the outside as recreation.  “Protecting the environment is important because not just one person is affected; it has an impact on everyone.” Junior psychology major Colleen Tawes explains the importance of being “green.”  After the discussion and scenarios, Ms. Buta wanted to hear thoughts and suggestions felt now that they had heard the principles and concepts of “leave no trace.” The feedback was only heard from about two students but they both shared an obvious love for nature.   Another student who is a senior wildlife and fisheries major named Jordan says, “I’m glad I came to this. It is important for future generations.”   Aly Allen a sophomore psychology major had a similar feeling about the topic saying, “This kind of information is going to help future generations.”     

Yes we all should be more “green” and help protect Earth but with no laws and just lectures to guide outdoor recreational activities, is there going to be enough force to give the current generation enough awareness to prevent too much damage on earth? Hopefully so, our atmosphere may depend on it.  If more people start to care about what they leave behind when being outside the future generation will be able to live in a world that is “green and clean!